A-Cute Bit

A brief list of projects and people using my tool aeneas for aligning audio and text

I submitted a talk proposal (actually, two: one in English and one in Italia) about aeneas to PyCon8, i.e. PyCon Italia 2017. Read the abstract here and vote for them!

I published on GitHub a guide for non-tech-savvy Windows users to install Python and use the Command Prompt

espeakng.js is a port of the eSpeak-ng text-to-speech engine, done via emscripten, that can be used to add text synthesis to any Web page

I describe the problem my FLOSS forced aligner aeneas addresses, and I review the design principles behind it

I describe elzzur, my Python package to solve (generalized) Ruzzle boards

Traduzione di un breve ma eccellente post di Suresh Venkat sulla definizione di algoritmo nel contesto del machine learning

I have just launched aeneasweb.org, a simple Web App that lets users run aeneas without installing it on their machines.

What happens when you substitute the word algorithm in the title of the all-time top 100 IMDb movies.

I have a Python script to convert EPUB 2 + MP3s into EPUB 3 reflowable + Media Overlays

I received this email a few days ago, and it broke my heart.

Brief updates on aeneas, detailing the work done during the summer: C extensions, boundary adjustments, Google Group, running on Windows

A few pointers to projects, articles, and research papers exploring reading+listening for literacy building

A long-due tribute to the awesome window manager I daily use, aptly named awesome!

A few thoughts on pirated works that can be easily found on Google Play.

ReadBeyond is closing down, but don't worry, its legacy will stay online.

This tutorial helps you setting up a Vagrant box on VirtualBox so that you can easily run aeneas without the hassle of installing its dependencies, especially if you are using Windows or Mac OS X.

This post contains a few notes and observations about the recent publication of the source code of Minstrel app

This post is a practical introduction to the aeneas package, with concrete examples of how to use it to compute audio/text sync maps.

A plead to professionals, journalists, bloggers and the like not to use the term "Social DRM."

Current fixed layout (FXL) eBooks are not just limited, they are harmful to the digital publishing ecosystem.

A cool feature of Menestrello v3 is a pretext to discuss the concept of eBooks as asset containers and the implied importance of the reading systems.

In case you missed them: we released the v3 of Menestrello and we put online a Developers' Page for the app

For the last 18 months I have been working full-time for ReadBeyond, but now I think it is time to kill it.

In case you missed it, ReadBeyond seeks support for releasing the source code of Menestrello app. Read this post for details.

In this post I want to write down a few observations on a hot topic in the eBook world: the balance between author's/publisher's choices on eBook typography and reader's preferences. And the role of apps (developers) in it.

Some scattered thoughts on eBook reading apps, and the current need for good, truly FOSS ones.

How to install Edubuntu on Acer Aspire 2001, whose BIOS does not support booting from USB.

A collection of thoughts and notes inspired by Editech 2014

Do you have to subset a bunch of fonts? Use glyphIgo, directly from your favourite shell!

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This post describes the steps needed to create EPUB 3 eBooks with Media Overlays, also known as "read aloud" eBooks, with tips and tricks, and a full EPUB 3 demo.

I share some lessons learned working with "Audio-eBooks", which are reflowable EPUB 3 eBooks with embedded audio and Media Overlays.

A preview of an Inkscape plugin (and console script), that lets you convert an SVG into XHTML+CSS

This is the last part of a "behind the scenes" tour of Menestrello app. In this post, I describe some improvements and future work to be done on Menestrello.

I am looking for exciting job opportunities, starting in January 2015. Details in this post.

Yesterday I learned how to write Inkscape plugins

A brief and censored description of a cool project never born.

This is Part 3 of a "behind the scenes" tour of Menestrello app. In this post, I cover some interesting features of Menestrello.

This is Part 2 of a "behind the scenes" tour of Menestrello app. In this post, I cover the high level architecture of Menestrello.

Annoyed by the fact that Firefox (Iceweasel) 29 no longer lets you hide the nav bar? Here is how to hide or toggle it.

This is Part 1 of a "behind the scenes" tour of Menestrello app. In this post, I cover the motivation behind developing Menestrello.

Annoyed by the "add to library" dialog in ADE 3.0? Check this AppleScript out!

After I wasted a lot of time trying to figuring out how to dim the Android status bar from a PhoneGap plugin, I share two tips that will save you the trouble.

I checked whether the Google Play Books Android app supports EPUB 3 Media Overlays. You know, for science.

The easiest way to waste the best talents in the software industry...

I investigated whether some popular, real world EPUB reading systems actually check for OCF conformance when loading an EPUB file. You know, for science.

Do you know why the mimetype file should not be compressed in your EPUB files? Venture yourself in this blog post full of EPUB OCF technicalities and kittens!

How to instruct Vim to open EPUB files on the fly, so you can view/edit their contents without unzipping them first.

The simplest way to sideload your EPUB files? Just use a Python one-liner to instantiate a light Web server directly from your console!

No serious blog starts without a Hello World! post.